I have trained in several styles, but the most memorable test I had was my Sho-dan test in Chito-ryu(we are actually descended through Yoshukai, but that is for another time). Our style has evry close ties to Kyokushin and some of our testing procedures are very much alike. On the final night of the test, I had my "50 man kumite" to finish it up. The test seemed to last forever. The gyst of it is, new opponent every minute until the 50 matches have been completed. The rules are full contact with head punching allowed. To make this test even worse, my nose was broken 9 days prior to the finish of the test. By the end of the test, I was completely wiped out and I could hardly hold my hands up. There was a rather large amount of blood all over the school and in the uniform I was wearing that evening. Almost all of it was from my nose and mouth(I slowed down so much that my head movement was almost non-existent). I did get my shots in on my sparring partners, but I am willing to admit that I took the majority of the beating.

I have since tested in other styles, some of which had similar testing procedures. But my first Sho-dan test will always be the most memorable.

I currently use a similar format for testing my students with great results. They are proud of the rank they earn and it keeps our standards higher for each rank.